afternoon

noun

af·​ter·​noon ˌaf-tər-ˈnün How to pronounce afternoon (audio)
1
: the part of day between noon and sunset
2
: a relatively late period (as of time or life)
in the afternoon of the 19th century
afternoon adjective

Examples of afternoon in a Sentence

morning, afternoon, evening, and night I'll see you again tomorrow afternoon. It was early afternoon when I left. She spent the afternoon at the library. I remember the many rainy afternoons I spent reading at the library. She doesn't have class on Friday afternoons. It took us all afternoon to get there. It's going to be a long afternoon listening to lectures.
Recent Examples on the Web Israeli warplanes were also seen flying over different parts of the country late afternoon, including over Mount Lebanon where Hezbollah does not have a notable presence. Helen Regan, CNN, 24 Sep. 2024 The emergency regulations were approved by the Office of Administrative Law on Monday afternoon and went into effect immediately, online news source SFGate reported. A.j. Herrington, Forbes, 24 Sep. 2024 No arrests had been made as of Monday afternoon, a police spokesperson confirmed. Sandra McDonald, Los Angeles Times, 24 Sep. 2024 Hundreds of MoneyGram outages were being reported as of late Monday afternoon, according to Downdetector, which tracks user reports of outages. Kate Gibson, CBS News, 24 Sep. 2024 See all Example Sentences for afternoon 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'afternoon.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Middle English afternone, from after- after- + none noon

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of afternoon was in the 13th century

Dictionary Entries Near afternoon

Cite this Entry

“Afternoon.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/afternoon. Accessed 6 Oct. 2024.

Kids Definition

afternoon

noun
af·​ter·​noon ˌaf-tər-ˈnün How to pronounce afternoon (audio)
: the part of day between noon and sunset
afternoon adjective

More from Merriam-Webster on afternoon

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